Tom Vek - Leisure Seizure

Tom Vek
Leisure Seizure
(Island)
2/5
Originally Appears in Issue 7 of One More Robot

The relief was obvious the moment Tom Vek opened his mouth to introduce the video to ‘A Chore’. His first new track in what he describes as “five long years”, it was a punishing wait for artist and fans alike, as Vek spent the intervening period toiling well off the public radar. Logging on to his website year after year revealed the same short message every time: “Tom continues to work on the follow up to 2005 debut We Have Sound”. Seeing as he cut that record in his parent’s garage, one wondered if he was more of a ridiculously talented art kid than a musician. Had he moved on to the next of a never-ending stream of creative projects? Would he be a one-album wonder?

It was an arduous layoff, but Vek had established a strong following on the back of that record. Taking a lead from The DFA-led dance-punk sound and scaling it down to the confines of the small space where it was recorded, We Have Sound was a rough-and-ready gem. Bangers ‘CC (You Set The Fire in Me)’ and ‘I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes’ were played against quirky pop tracks like ‘The Lower the Sun’ and ‘Nothing But Green Lights’. Featuring muscular basslines, offbeat guitar licks and the singer’s mighty baritone, each track was a well thought-out, well executed delight. Vek embraced his quirks, utilising unobvious melodic shifts and layering his arrangements with so many treats it took multiple listens to unveil the full charm of each song. The B-sides too became revered as fans desperately squeezed every nugget of enjoyment out of his tiny discography.

Five years is a lifetime in musical evolution, but Leisure Seizure picks up where We Have Sound left off. In many ways it’s a natural follow-up. The arrangements have been scrubbed up slightly and the eccentricities mostly smoothed out. The first four tracks are among the album’s strongest and Vek shows he is still a master producer. Giving the composition’s unlimited sound space, he loads each one up with a variety of toys; from the cheap organ chords that kick-start opener ‘Hold Your Hand’ to the drum section of ‘Aroused’ and its ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ mentality. ‘A Chore’, free from the responsibility of being his comeback track, still sounds great. The drum beat is punishingly thumped, while the propulsive bassline and Vek’s still-mighty voice rattles through the speakers. Closing out side A is ‘World of Doubt’, a captivating ramshackle pop tune that feels like it’s being held together with Scotch Tape, and the electro-funk slaps of ‘Seismic’.

But while We Have Sound had a few moments that sagged, the cheap ‘n’ cheerful nature of the project and Vek’s youthful exuberance pushed it over the potholes. His quirks were always fascinating even when they didn’t quite work. On Leisure Seizure the flaws are harder to forgive, mostly because he no longer seems to be having fun. On ‘Close Mic’ed’ Vek looks to Kid A for inspiration. Gently singing over a shuffling beat with slumped shoulders, he sounds completely detached from the work. Equally, he phones in the delivery of both ‘A.P.O.L.O.G.Y.’ and ‘On A Plate’. Sounding bored with it all, Vek was perhaps all too aware of those song’s flaws as he attempts to paper over their cracks with huge, grimy synth sections that feel like weights around the album’s shoulders. ‘You Need To Work Your Heart Out’ lacks any real focus, which is underlined when it simply descends into droning repetition of the title lyric.

Over Leisure Seizure’s second half Vek is an altogether different being than the one who seemed so ferocious a few years ago. The record feels like the more mature, but less fun stepbrother of We Have Sound. Long breaks rarely prove fruitful in pop music. While we can speculate on why the lengthy sabbatical and how Vek spent it, one thing that’s obvious is that it’s robbed him of his fire.